Luggage and mechanism to make the same



A. ROSEN Oct. 15, 1940.

LUGGAGE AND MECHANISM TO MAKE THE SAME Filed April 30, 1938 v INVENTOR fl/fi6/f Aose.

ATTORNEY Patented Oct. 15, 1940 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Albert Rosen, Seattle, Wash. Application April 30, 1938, Serial No. 205,329

3 Claims.

This invention relates to luggage and mechanism to make the same. One particular type of luggage to which this invention is particularly applicable is that type of luggage generally re- 5 ferred to on this market as aeroplane luggage. An embodiment of this invention is therefore described in connection with such type of luggage and is to be considered as illustrative but not as a limitation of the invention.

10 With the advent of aeroplane commercial travel, the transportation of the passengers luggage has become a serious problem. Substantially all commercial lines have today a strict limitation of weight for luggage. This means that the lug- 15 gage must be of a minimum weight or the passenger will not be able to carry in the luggage the necessary personal effects.

With this necessity for minimum weight luggage, manufacturers have, at the expense of strength, constructed relatively light weight luggage which is generally known as aeroplane luggage. This'luggage, as heretofore constructed, comprises a wood foundation member with interfltting dovetailed corner construction, a fabric 25 or leather covering glued on the outside of the wooden foundation member, and matching outside corner strip sewn on each edge to the foundation member. The foundation member was formed of plywood or wood veneer and oftentimes, in the interest of minimum weight, was

of single sheets of light wood, as bass wood or cedar.

Because of the positive requirement of absolute minimum weight, the prior art corner reinforcing means for othertypes of luggage could not be used. In the construction of the aeroplane type of luggage, the corners of the wooden foundation member were glued together and the outside corner strips were sewed to the wood. The piercing of the wood by the needle in this sewing operation so weakened the luggage that it was common to have the Wooden foundation members of the luggage break on the stitching line. Also it was common to have a thread break and for the stitching to unravel. On the other hand, when the stitching was eliminated and the outside corner strip was glued on, it was common to have this strip torn off by ordinary handling of luggage, with the resulting unsightly appearance.

This invention has for an object the overcoming of the above mentioned problems of the prior art.

Another object is to provide a luggage corner 55 means, which not only eliminates the weakening resulting from stitching, but provides positive increase in the strength of the cornersall with a minimum weight and all without the expensive interfitting dovetailed corner construction of the 50 prior art.

It is a further object to provide an outside corner which is securely aflixed and which will withstand the substantial abuse to which the luggage may be subjected in ordinary commercial handling. 5

It is a further object to provide an outside corner which is decorative and pleasing and which will not only protect the luggage but which will not be asource of damage to other luggage or other articles contacting the same.

It is a further object to provide corner means which will serve as runners and eliminate the necessity for buttons or runners which are generally placed on the luggage.

It is a further object to provide an outside corner which may be rapidly, efliciently and economically installed.

The above mentioned general objects of my invention, together with others inherent in the same, are attained by the mechanism illustrated in the following drawing, the same being preferred exemplary forms of embodiment of my invention, throughout which drawing like reference numerals indicate like parts:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a piece of luggage constructed in accordance with this invention, showing a portion of the covering material torn loose and turned back;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view illustrating this corner member applied to a piece of luggage;

Fig. 3 is a detached fragmentary view, in elevation, of the corner member;

Fig. 4 is a detached fragmentary sectional view taken substantially on broken line 4, 4 of Fig. 3; Fig. 5 is a view with parts broken away, and

other parts in section, of a mechanism for affixing the corner to a piece of luggage; and

Figs. 6 and 7 are views in elevation similar to Fig. 3, showing modified means for securing the corner member in place.

Referring to Figs. 1, 2 and 5, the foundation member It may be constructed with wooden members merely lapping as shown in Fig. 2, as the corner construction of this invention will serve to sufficiently strengthen the lugga e, and thus the expensive interfitting dovetailed corner construction found necessary in the prior art is eliminated. The foundation member l0 has secured thereto, as by gluing, the outside decorating covering H. The foundation member l0 may be either multi-ply, as plywood or veneer, or may be a single ply. The wood employed may be any of the usual woods utilized for this purpose, as Douglas fir, bass wood, cedar, etc. The outside decorating covering ll may be leather ,or

any of the fabric coverings commonly employed. The. covering l l is obtained by affixing a plurality of sheets or the covering material to the faces (to of the foundation member 10, which are preferably secured by gluing.

The juncture or lap l2, see Figs. 2 and 5, between the pieces of covering material I I, must be covered to secure the covering material ii in place and for decorative purposes.

The corner member generally referred to by I3 is secured to the foundation member ID by longitudinally spaced metallic members, preferably in the form of the cleats or prongs M shown in Figs. 2, 3 and 4. These cleats I l are formed by punching or stamping the same out of the body l5 of the corner member 53. These cleats M are preferably pointed, as shown in Fig. 3, and are corrugated in cross section as shown in Fig. 4 to increase their tendency to pierce and their strength to pierce through the foundation member 56, all with a minimum weight of material.

It is to be understood that this invention is not to be limited to the particular preferred metallic binding members It shown and other modified means may be used, such as the corner member 16 shown in Fig. 6, which comprises fiat rectangular cleats ll punched out in forming the corner member [6, or the corner member is, shown in Fig. 7, which is provided with openings l8, through which may be inserted the nails 28.

The preferred cleat 84, shown in Figs. 2, 3 and 4, provides a cleat with extreme piercing strength, even though the weight of the metal used in forming the corner i3 is reduced, for purposes of economy, to a minimum.

The lateral edges of the corner I3 are provided with a channel forming means 2| to receive therein decorating outside corner strip 22. The channel forming means 2! are preferably formed by the double fold shown in Fig. 2 to present a smooth edge and prevent damage to articles contacting the same.

The strip 22 is preferably formed of luggage fiber and may be decorated or covered as desired to match or contrast with the covering H.

Referring to Fig. 5, the members 23 and 24 are mounted for relative movement toward and away from each other. In the embodiment of the invention illustrated, 23 is a fixed member and the member 2 3 is mounted for relative movement towards said fixed member 23. As illustrative of means to move the pressure member 24 towards the supporting member 23, a lever arm 26 is pivotally sectued to the fixed support 27. The lever 26 is connected by slot and pin means 28 with the pressure member 24. The pressure member 2 5 is slidably mounted in the fixed support 2?. Therefore upward movement of the free end of the lever 25 will cause the pressure member 2G to move towards the fixed member 23. Obviously the pivotal means may be so arranged that the free end portion of the lever arm 26 maybe moved upwardly or downwardly to accomplish such relative movement. Likewise, other forms of pressure means may be readily substituted for the pivoted lever.

The strip 22 is first placed in the supporting member 24 with the piercing cleats M positioned upwardly. Then the luggage is placed above the corner strip 22 in contact with the cleats M. The supporting member 23 is preferably detachably secured to the fixed support 25 to permit supporting members 23 of the desired length depending upon the size of the luggage, as member 23 will fit inside the luggage.

Preferably the cleats I4 are of such length, so that they will completely pass through the foundation member 10 and contact with the supporting member 23 and be turned or clinched by contact therewith, as shown in Fig. 2. In view of the fact that the cleats M are parallel, they may be urged in place in the manner illustrated.

The mechanism shown in Fig. 5 is illustrative of means for providing for relative movement between the fixed member 23 and its paired member, the pressure member 24. Here 25 is a suitable fixed means which detachably receives the fixed member 23. The pressure member 24 is mounted for relative movement toward and away from the member 23 as by the lever arm 26 and the well known slot and pin connection means 28. Obviously, such means are only illustrative of a pressure device so that parallel cleats may be urged through the foundation members and the ends of the cleats turned or clinched.

The corner member hereinabove described may be economically and efficiently manufactured. The same may be readily and rapidly inserted into place without damage to the foundation member and the resulting product will be a plurality of times stronger than any heretofore known construction,-all with an absolute minimum of weight and without sacrifice of beauty or appearance. After the corner members l3 have been inserted in place, the decorating members 22 (see Fig. 1) may be secured in place by any well known manner to complete the appearance of the luggage.

Obviously, changes may be made in the forms, dimensions and arrangement of the parts of my invention, without departing from the principle thereof, the above setting forth only preferred forms of embodiment.

I claim:

1. A decorative luggage corner binding member comprising two face members positioned in planes at right angles to each other; inwardly projecting prongs on one face; inwardly projecting prongs on the other face positioned parallel to the prongs on the said one face, whereby said corner member may be urged toward a foundation corner and the prongs pierced thereinto and secured thereto in one movement; and outwardly projecting channel providing means carried by the respective edges of the face members adapted to receive an outside covering strip.

2. A decorative luggage corner binding member comprising two face members positioned in planes at right angles to each other; inwardly projecting prongs on one face; inwardly projecting prongs on the other face positioned parallel to the prongs on the said one face, whereby said corner member may be urged toward a foundation corner and the prongs pierced thereinto and secured thereto in one movement; and double folded channel providing means carried by the respective edges of the face members adapted to receive an outside covering strip and eliminating external sharp corners.

3. A decorative luggage corner binding member comprising two face members positioned in planes at right angles to each other; inwardly projecting integral corrugated prongs on one face; inwardly projecting integral corrugated prongs on the other face positioned parallel to the prongs on the said one face, whereby said corner member may be urged toward a foundation corner and the prongs pierced thereinto and secured thereto in one movement; and outwardly projecting channel providing means carried by the respective edges of the face members adapted to receive an outside covering strip.

ALBERT ROSEN. 

